Gisborne residents are campaigning for the Gisbus service to run all day on weekdays.
Local group Gisborne Roads and Transport Group has written to the Minister for Transport Jacinta Allan, Macedon MP Mary-Anne Thomas and Macedon Ranges council calling for the extension of the current service.
The Gisbus service currently operates during peak-times – running from 5.58-10.22am and from 2.50-7.55pm.
Chairman Russell Mowatt said an all-day bus service was needed “to meet the growing population demand of Gisborne”.
“In the last 10 years, it’s just gone through the roof,” he said.
From 2006-2016, the estimated number of Gisborne residents increased 35.9 per cent, from 9823 to 13,345, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Independent demographic company .id estimates the population will soar to 20,379 residents by 2036.
Mr Mowatt said the services would help reduce congestion by encouraging people to visit the township off-peak, and by offering residents an alternative to driving.
“Parking is becoming a problem in Gisborne,” he said. “We need a multipurpose approach to transport.”
He said the extended service would also better benefit the elderly, families with only one car, and young people.
“Elderly people don’t want to go down during the peak period,” he said.
The chairman said almost six thousand people were using the Gisbus service each month, and that he believed an off-peak service would definitely be used. Mr Mowatt said the next item on the group’s agenda was to achieve a peak bus service on Saturdays.
